Pump Primer:
In one paragraph, explain why the Articles of Confederation failed.
Learning Objectives:
2.1 Describe the ideas behind the American Revolution and their role in shaping the Constitution
2.2 Analyze how the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation led to its failure
2.3 Describe the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and the core ideas they shared
2.4 Categorize the issues at the Constitutional Convention and outline the resolutions reached on each type of issue
2.5 Analyze how the components of the Madisonian system addressed the dilemma of reconciling majority rule with the protection of minority interests
2.6 Compare and contrast the Federalists and Anti-Federalists in terms of their background and their positions regarding government
2.7 Explain how the Constitution can be formally amended and how it changes informally Understanding the Constitution
2.8 Assess whether the Constitution establishes a majoritarian democracy and how it limits the scope of government
Biblical Integration:
Believers through God's strength and grace can have an impact on society.(Matt.5:13; 28:19-20)
Introduction:
Burning the flag is legal, despite the objections of a majority of American citizens. How can that be? The answer is that it is speech that is constitutionally protected. The Constitution supersedes ordinary law, even when the law represents the wishes of a majority of citizens.
A Constitution is a nation’s basic law. It creates political institutions, allocates power within government, and often provides guarantees to citizens. Constitutions thus establish who has power in society, and how that power is exercised. This chapter examines the background of the Constitution, and shows that the main principle guiding the writing of the Constitution was a concern for limited government and self-determination.
Video: The Big Picture
Let’s take a look at what the “law of the land” doesn’t say. What does the Constitution leave out? Author George C. Edwards III delves into why the government becomes deadlocked and how understanding the Constitution allows us to adjust expectations for what the government can—and cannot—accomplish.
Video: The Basics
It’s not easy starting a government from scratch.
What is the purpose of a Constitution? In this video, you will discover the reasons why the framers wrote the Constitution and how the Constitution sets up checks and balances, the protection of liberties, and the framework we need for a functioning democracy.
Origins of the Constitution
The American Revolution was built on the foundation of belief in natural rights, consent of the governed, limited government, the responsibility of government to protect private property, and the equality of citizens. The Constitution written by the Framers incorporated all of these ideas.
Video - School House Rock – No More Kings
(LO 2.1) Describe the ideas behind the American Revolution and their role in shaping the Constitution
The Origins of the Constitution
The American Revolution was built on the foundation of belief in natural rights, consent of the governed, limited government, the responsibility of government to protect private property, and the equality of citizens. The Constitution written by the Framers incorporated all of these ideas.
¤ The Road to Revolution
o Life was good in the colonies
§ (Slaves excepted, of course)
§ ______
· (enjoyed an unusual degree of freedom, equality and self-rule for that era – assuming, of course, that you were white, male, and reasonably well-off)
o Irritants
§ New ______ to finance French and Indian War
§ Enforcement of trade ______
§ No ______ in Parliament
Figure 2.1 European Claims in North America
Following its victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, Britain obtained an enormous new territory to govern. To raise revenues to defend and administer the territory, it raised taxes on the colonists and tightened enforcement of trade regulations.
The Origins of the Constitution
¤ Irritants
¤ Americans resented the taxes, especially since they had no direct representation in Parliament.
o “Sons of Liberty” – formed in order to protest against the tax increases; mostly non-violent middle-class men (tradesman or shopkeepers). Known as a very conservative group.
¤ Protests and boycotts
o ______ Continental Congress – Sept. 1774
§ Sent delegates from each colony to Philadelphia to discuss the future of relations with Britain.
Declaring independence
¤ Reconciliation or revolution?
¤ In May and June of 1776, the Continental Congress began debating resolutions about independence; after two days of debate on the wording, the ______(written primarily by ______) was adopted on July 4.
¤ Politically, the Declaration was a polemic, announcing and justifying ______.
¤ Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
o Gradually shifted the delegates mindset from reconciliation to ______, fanning revolutionary sentiments
o Encouraged the colonists to declare ______ from Britain.
§ Justified revolution
§ Revolutionaries needed foreign assistance
The colonists were fighting for independence, not a new way of life. They had not been oppressed and had been content until Parliament had imposed new taxes and regulations. They were not seeking radical change, just the ability to continue as they had been.
Declaring Independence
o The delegates at the Second Continental Congress formed a committee of five to compose a declaration of independence.
§ ______ – primary drafter
§ ______ revolution
§ Revolutionaries needed ______ assistance
English Heritage: Power of Ideas
¤ John Locke
o ______ (belief that people exist in a state of nature before governments arise, where they are governed only by the laws of nature)
§ ______, ______, & ______
§ Purpose of government is to ______
• In an extreme case, people have a right to ______ against a government that no longer has their consent, but Locke stressed that people should not revolt until injustices become deeply felt
¤ ______ of the governed
o The people must agree on who their rulers will be.
¤ ______ government
o Clear restrictions on what ruler’s can or cannot do
Locke and the Declaration of Independence: Some parallels
Some of the text of the Declaration would be considered plagiarism if Jefferson had been writing a paper for school.
Video: Declaration of Independence (read by celebrities)
American Creed, Winning Independence, and the “Conservative” Revolution
¤ Individualism
¤ Rule by the people
¤ New ideas incubated in a unique environment
¤ Winning independence not easy
¤ A conservative revolution?
¤ A Conservative Revolution
o The revolution was essentially a conservative movement that did not drastically alter the colonists’ way of life.
o The primary goal of the revolution was to ______ rights the colonists felt were already theirs as British subjects.
Review Question
Who was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence?
a. John Locke
b. Benjamin Franklin
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. John Adams
(LO2.2) Analyze how the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation led to its failure
Government That Failed: 1776-1787
The Articles of Confederation established a government dominated by the states, without a permanent executive or national judiciary. A weak central government could not raise sufficient funds to support a national defense, regulate commerce to encourage trade, protect property rights, or take action without the unanimous consent of the states. It was doomed to failure from the start, although it took the colonists some years to accept this.
Articles of Confederation
¤ State-dominated government
o League of friendship amongst states
o ______ legislature
o No ______
o No ______
o No power to ______
o No power to regulate ______
¤ Feared ______ central government
Key provisions of the Articles of Confederation
As we can see in this chart,
the national government was weak and devoid of almost all power.
The Congress had no power to tax and could not pay for an army to defend the states, nor could it regulate interstate commerce, which prevented economic growth.
Changes in the States
¤ Increases in liberty, democracy
o If you were a white ______
o States were liberalizing requirements for ______
o The new ______ class became the majority voting power.
¤ New middle class
o Artisans
o ______
o Elite power ______
¤ Legislatures held governmental power
o Controlled governors
¤ Legislatures held governmental power
o most people considered legislators to be ______ to the voters.
o Legislatures often selected the governors and kept them on a short leash:
§ brief ______
§ limited ______
§ appointment ______
Power shift: Economic status of state legislators before and after the Revolutionary War
¤ After the Revolution, ______ in the state legislatures shifted from the hands of the wealthy to those with more moderate incomes and from merchants and lawyers to ______.
¤ This trend was especially evident in the ______ states.
FIGURE 2.2: Power shift: Economic status of state legislators before and after the Revolutionary War
After the Revolution, power in the state legislatures shifted from the hands of the wealthy to those with more moderate incomes and from merchants and lawyers to farmers. This trend was especially evident in the northern states.
Economic Turmoil and Aborted Annapolis Meeting
¤ Postwar economic depression
o A postwar depression had left many small farmers unable to pay their debts; many were threatened with mortgage foreclosures.
o State legislatures were now under the control of people more sympathetic to ______.
o A few states (notably Rhode Island) adopted policies to help debtors, favoring them over creditors—some printed paper money and passed “force acts,” requiring creditors to accept the almost worthless money.
¤ Shays’ Rebellion (1786)
o In 1786, a small group of farmers in western Massachusetts led by Captain Daniel Shays rebelled at losing their land to creditors.
§ Farmers attack courthouses to prevent ______
§ Neither national nor state govt. could respond
§ ______ privately put down rebellion
§ Spurred the birth of the Constitution.
¤ Annapolis meeting leads to Constitutional Convention
¤ Delegates from only ______ states met in Annapolis, Maryland, in September 1786 and quickly decided to hold a full-scale meeting of all the states in Philadelphia in May 1787 to ______
What was a weakness of the Articles of Confederation?
a. Weak central government
b. No restraints on judiciary
c. Tyrannical executive
d. Legislature too large
(LO 2.3) Describe the delegates to the Constitutional Convention and the core ideas they shared
Making a Constitution: Philadelphia Convention
The Framers of the Constitution were the elites of their states. They were more educated, wealthy, and urban than most Americans. They shared some of the following core ideas:
• people were self-interested
• the distribution of wealth was the principal source of political conflict
• the main object of government was protecting private property
• and that power should be set against power to balance government.
Gentlemen in Philadelphia and Philosophy in Action
¤ Who attended Constitutional Convention?
o ______delegates from _____ states (Rhode Island refused participate)
o Wealthy planters, lawyers, merchants
o Delegates were given specific instructions to meet “______
§ Amendment was not feasible since amending the Articles required the ______ consent of the states.
o ______, who is often called “the father of the U.S. Constitution,” was perhaps the most influential member of the Convention in translating political philosophy into governmental architecture.
¤ High principles versus self-interest
o Human nature
§ People were ______-______; government should check and contain the natural self-interest of people.
o Political conflict resulting from factions
§ ______ (property) distribution is the source of political conflict; factions arise from the unequal distribution of wealth.
o Purpose of government
§ Property must be protected against the tyrannical tendencies of faction.
o Nature of government
§ The secret of good government is “balanced government” because as long as no faction could seize complete control of government, tyranny could be avoided.
Video: In the Real World
Let’s see what others think about how the Constitution works. How well does the system of checks and balances in the United States work, and is it actually fair? Real people voice their opinions on whether or not they believe it is constitutional for Congress to check the power of the president—and vice versa.
The Framers chose a limited government based on
a. Checks
b. Balances
c. Separation of power
d. All of the above
(LO 2.4) Categorize the issues at the Constitutional Convention and outline the resolutions reached on each type of issue
Critical Issues at the Convention
¤ ______ Issues
¤ ______ Issues
¤ ______ Rights Issues
¤ Conflicts over equality of representation led to the Connecticut Compromise, the three-fifths compromise, and the decision to leave the issue of voting rights to the states.
¤ The greatest inequality of all, slavery, was so contentious an issue that the Framers simply avoided addressing it.
Equality Issues
¤ Equality and representation of the states
o ______ Plan - each state to be equally represented in the new Congress.
o ______ Plan - representation in Congress based on the state’s share of the American population.
o ______ – (adopted) bicameral legislature in which the Senate would have two members from each state and the House of Representatives would have representation based on population.
¤ Slavery
o limit future ______ of slaves (they prohibited it after 1808), but they did not ______ slavery itself.
o Constitution stated that persons legally “held to service or labour” who escaped to free states had to be ______ to their owners.
o ______ compromise, both representation and taxation were to be based upon the “number of free persons” plus three-fifths of the number of “all other persons.”
¤ Equality in voting
o Some delegates favored suffrage for all free, adult males; some wanted to put property qualifications on the right to vote.
o Ultimately, they decided to leave the issue to the ______.
o How the Constitution resolved three issues of equality